Here lives poetry that resembles a sticky dance floor. Poetry that is at once terraformed music and primal shout and wet kiss and sweaty palm. The "American" in Bettering American Poetry is a kind of ghoulish placeholder for whichever more rebellious, more enlivening world comes next.
-Billy-Ray Belcourt
CLICK: * Support Small Press Distribution * Litmus Press * The French Exit on “The Strange Power of Lying to Yourself“ “Rarely have the nude and the cooked been so neatly joined” as in Amy King’s I Want to Make You Safe. If “us,” “herons,” and “dust” rhyme, then these poems rhyme. If that…
No Place for the Little Lyric / Poetry Off the Shelf : The Poetry Foundation [click here] No Place for the Little Lyric @ The Poetry Foundation Should Adrienne Rich be the poet laureate of the Occupy movement?
** AND JUST WHAT IS IT? MEDIA BLACKOUT? YOU TELL ME. ** Click the titles for info: * “The problem in a nutshell is this: Inequality in this country … (click to continue)” * Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1#ixzz1arm8aHPw Join the Poetry@WallStreet on Facebook – * Click here – TO PARTICIPATE IN FRIDAY’S READING! * Poets Occupy Wall…
Congratulations to all of those New Yorkers who exercised their long-overdue civil rights yesterday and got married! Especially the Manhattan couple, Phyllis Siegel, 76, and Connie Kopelov, 84, – together for 23 years! I hate to break the news though, the U.S. Federal Government doesn’t think you’re actually a couple! Neither do my relatives in the south…
Ever Hear of “The Family”? Get Ready… Fear or disinterest? The powers that be don’t care why we don’t discuss how our oppressions work together to isolate us while sustaining their power and positions, so long as we don’t turn our attentions to them and their puppetry. Why should you get mixed up in the…
Like it or not, parallels exist between the two separate-but-similar battles for civil rights. I received some flack the other day for posting the title statement on my Facebook page (“Gay is the new black.”), and in turn, learned there is some resistance against aligning the two movements for civil rights primarily because of fear…
Ever hear of Diane Savino? You will. Currently our senator from Staten Island, she recently made the nation’s radar with her speech on the sanctity of marriage, well worth viewing here: “Diane Savino has dedicated her entire professional career towards improving the lives of working families. She began her career in public service as a…
What will they say about her ascension as the First Lady? My first impulse is fearful. Ms. Obama smartly has not let on just how smart she is. But while we wait for her next move (will she avoid Senator Clinton’s grave error and bake the damn cookies?), how will they/we speak about her? Already,…
BLACKS LOVE WHITES? AMERICAN CITIZENS LOVE IMMIGRANTS? WHITES LOVE PAKISTANIS? WOMEN LOVE WOMEN? BLACKS LOVE LATINAS? WHITES LOVE BLACKS? OLD LOVES YOUNG? FAMOUS LOVES UNKNOWN? MAN LOVES MAN? HAPPY LOVES DEPRESSIVE? ~~~~~ CIVIL RIGHTS DON’T BELONG TO EVERYONE! JOIN ME IN APPLAUDING PROP 8! [THIS POST IS SARCASTIC FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T “GET…
photo by Amy King Body Clock Eleni Sikelianos Lauded by Michael Ondaatje as an “unforgettable” writer, and praised by The Washington Post for her ability to capture “the subtlest shades of the emotional palette,” Eleni Sikelianos is one of the most highly regarded poets of her generation. In Body Clock, she charts the curvature of…
ROBERT GIBBS TAKES SEAN HANNITY TO TASK: HOW TO FRAME AN ARGUMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From THE HOUR OF THE STAR by Clarice Lispector Everything in the world began with a yes. One molecule said yes to another molecule and life was born. But before prehistory there was the prehistory of prehistory and there was the never…
ABOUT THIS DEMOCRATIC VOTING SYSTEM, BUT YOU KNOW, GIVE IT A GO? TELL SOME BLOKES? STUDENTS? ‘RENTS? EXES? SOMEBODY? HERE ARE SOME FAMOUS PEOPLE TO MOCK YOU: IF IT’S GOING TO BE A CLOSE ELECTION, WELL, YOU ONLY HAVE A COUPLE DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER. I GUESS. ~~~~~~~~ Just a few link updates too. And…
Falling for whom? NOTHING in this “bailout” package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance. Friends, Let me cut to the chase. The biggest…
Thanks, George Bush, for your anti-social, soul-sucking-religious, hate-mongering, anti-thinking, old-boy networking, pro-rich scaffolding policies and legacy. Thanks for the war, the recession, and the imminent depression. Thanks for conflating government with yours and your pals’ profit-making agendas. Thanks for ignoring, and in many cases dehumanizing, everyone not seated at your very small table, and thanks…
On 14 September Jerome Rothenberg hosted at the Bowery Poetry Club a celebration for the 40th anniversary of Technicians of the Sacred, a seminal work which brought a global range of oral & tribal poetries into focus & launched ethnopoetics as a new approach to poetry & performance. Pierre Joris made a video of Charles…
Read more Charles Bernstein’s Performance at the Technicians of the Sacred Celebrations
I’m not fond of this awesome blog’s name, “Women Against Sarah Palin,” (wish it were “People Against McCain’s Camp,” though that wouldn’t draw as much attention), but I *am* down with the sentiment behind the naming: Just because McCain picked a female running-mate doesn’t instantly mean women will blindly vote for her. Palin’s got some…
WHY YOU MIGHT REALLY VOTE REPUBLICAN IN NOVEMBER ~~~~~~ FREAKY DOG ROBOT – WHOA, LIL DOGGY
Remember anti miscegenation? “Anti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that banned interracial marriage and sometimes interracial sex between whites and members of other races. In the United States, interracial marriage, cohabitation and sex have since 1863 been termed “miscegenation.” Contemporary usage of the term “miscegenation” is less frequent. In North America, laws…
About her feelings for Hillary Clinton. ~~~ Let the backlash begin. Surprisingly (to me, at least), Keith Olbermann is the lead-off lambaster. She’s his “Worst Person in the World,” ranking right up there with Rupert Mudoch. Take that tongue lashing, you Feminazi Couric! In other news, “Katie Tarts It Up” — “it” is the news,…
First All-Women-of-Color Presidential Ticket in US History: Green Party Nominee Cynthia McKinney and Running Mate Rosa Clemente on War, Democracy and Hip Hop Interview Excerpts below from Democracy Now! CYNTHIA McKINNEY: Because the corporate lobbyists can come and go at will, our values get overridden and our representatives give us something else. That’s how we…
“The American War On Drugs – The Last White Hope,” a new documentary from Sacred Cow productions, questions the legitimacy of “The War On Drugs” by painting a post-Michael Moore picture that investigates beyond the usual users and drug dealers, who are ultimately dubbed the “marketers” of product — not the providers. The C.I.A. is…
Poet, Marilyn Hacker, sent the following to the Women’s Poetry Listserv this morning: ———- Forwarded message ———- From: Nancy Keenan, NARAL Pro-Choice America <CAN@prochoiceamerica.org> Date: Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 12:11 AM Subject: Bush attacks women’s access to birth control We found out some truly disturbing news. Just hours ago The New York Times reported…
I’m not sure where the “funny” part is, but hey, if it makes Dad feel manly, why not target Hillary one more time for deigning to run for an all-male office? Gasp! Isn’t “President” synonymous with “King”? Women can’t be kings! Except Amy King, of course. Now that’s funny! Target has come under fire for…
Read more Give Dad the Gift of Hating Women for Father’s Day!
Governor Patterson opened a phone line to determine how much support there is for his directive to recognize all legal same-sex marriages from other states and countries. I just called and it’s really easy and it took under 5 seconds. You call 518.474.8390 and say you support the governor’s directive. The lady who answers the…
WHEN A WOMAN RUNS FOR A “MAN’S JOB” “Like Glenn Close, she should’ve stayed in the bathtub.” “Iron my shirt!” “Senator Clinton, when she’s feeling down, launches attacks.” –Obama “Let’s not forget, and I’ll be brutal: the reason she’s a U.S. Senator, the reason she’s a candidate for president, the reason she’s a front runner…
AMY KING 